Environmental Health

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen!

According to the programme I am supposed to present some conclusion remarks at the end of the plenary session this morning. I am grateful for this possibility to address a distinguished audience of experts from all over the world. At the same time I find it rather difficult to present any instant conclusions from what has been said today from different points of view. In preparing for this presentation I have tried to anticipate the possible messages from speakers representing UNEP, WHO, EU and a Norwegian research institute.

Although the task could seem rather impossible I will try to make some reflections about what has been said this morning (or at least what I expected would be said). At the same time I will take the opportunity to outline very briefly the Norwegian policy to address the environmental challenges in the transport sector.

On this congress I find it natural to focus the possible health damage connected with steadily increasing volumes of transport. This means that I will concentrate on local environmental problems with traffic as an important source. My focus must not be interpreted as an expression that the Norwegian Government pays less attention to global and irreversible environmental problems such as climate change and loss of biodiversity.

At the outset I must emphasise that the Ministry of Transport and Communications attaches substantial importance to limiting the transport sector’s contribution to different environmental problems. Environment is defined as a main objective in transport policy with equal priority as effecient transport, traffic safety and regional development.

Sector integration

The principle of sector integration of environmental concerns has been an important part of Norwegian environmental policy since 1989. This year the government presented its report to the Storting on the follow up of the report from the Brundtland-Commission. As part of our "Environmental Policy for Sustainable Development" we have adopted national targets in eight environmental policy areas and are developing a new system for monitoring and reporting performance.

Transport continues to be a substantial source of environmental problems. This applies in particular to the three national policy areas:

Protection and use of biodiversity,

Cultural heritage and cultural environments,

Climate change, air pollution and noise.

When applying the principle of sector responsibility it is crucial to be aware of the limitations of transport policy. Transport development is a result of a whole range of factors, many of them outside the control of transport authorities. Important driving forces behind transport growth are increasing economic welfare, technological development, internationalisation, decreasing costs of transport, changes in patterns of production and consumption and social factors. This means that changes in transport policy must be combined with measures in other policy areas to obtain more sustainable transport. Furthermore many major environmental problems are often caused by activities in different sectors. To meet these environmental challenges the most cost-effective measures should be sought across sectors.

Every four years the government presents long-term plans for the transport sector, included state investments in different parts of the transport system. This fall government will present an overall plan for road, rail, air and sea transport for the period 2002 – 2011. As premises for this national transport plan (NTP) the ministry has set up targets which shall be met for air quality, noise and problems connected with encroachment. Furthermore environmental impacts of alternative strategies, including CO2 and encroachment in sensitive natural and cultural areas, are calculated and presented in the report to the Storting.

The government’s overall environmental policy and the environmental strategy in different policy areas should be elaborated and made more operational in environmental action plans. The Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Defence were the first ministries to present environmental action plans in autumn 1998.

The environmental challenge in general

In many ways increased mobility and transport volumes are both a prerequisite and a consequence of the economic growth in rich countries over the last decades. Both passenger and goods transport have for long periods grown faster than GDP. Over the last three decades there has been a growing concern for the environmental damages caused by the dramatic growth in mobility. And the environmental challenge tends to increase because the relatively most polluting transport modes, such as cars, heavy goods vehicles and planes, are growing fastest.

As you all know, and as we have been reminded this morning, transport contributes considerably to environmental problems at global, regional and local level. Historic and present transport trends are considered to be in conflict with the objective of sustainable development. Both national governments and international organisations such as UN and EU have adopted strategies for sustainable development. But there is still a huge gap between existing transport policies and Karl G Høyer’s scenario for sustainable mobility. Mr Høyer advocates considerably reduced mobility in rich countries and a completely different transport system with almost no scope for use of private cars. These dramatic changes in mobility, although Mr Høyer says it is the mobility standard in Norway in the early 1970s, he claims are necessary to allow increased transport in developing countries without exceeding our global ecological space.

In many ways I agree that emissions of CO2 and increasing use of land for transport infrastructure in the long term may seem to be the most challenging parts of sustainable transport. In Norway, as I guess in most countries, emissions of CO2 are growing, and traffic demands more capacity and increased consumption of scarce land.

But some trends regarding the environmental impacts of transport are positive. Emissions of NOx, SO2, CO, particles and hydrocarbons are falling due to new engine technology and cleaner fossil fuels. These "technological fixes" contribute considerably to reduce health problems caused by pollution, especially in larger cities. But at the same time we are fully aware that traffic growth reduces the environmental gain of more eco-efficient technology.

Transport and health

Transport affects health in many ways. The focus of this congress is the connection between environmental and health problems. But we must not forget that accidents causing deaths and severe injuries are the major health problem connected with transport. In many cases instruments that improve traffic safety will have a positive effect on environment and vice versa, but not always. In addition to accidents growing transport may influence people’s health in a somewhat more subtle way through reducing local environmental quality.

Air pollution and noise are rather obvious threats to human health and have been major topics in the debate on urban transport for a long time. Not so many have been worried about the potential health effects of expanding transport infrastructure which reduces parks and other open spaces and establises dangerous barriers in the "townscape". This means that children have less opportunity for playing outdoor. Furthermore the scope for safe walking and biking has been reduced considerably in many cities. Increased dependency of motorised transport means reduced physical activity connected with our daily transport. I fully agree with Mr Dora that this health consequence should not be neglected.

On this topic I would like to underline that Norwegian transport authorities during the last decade have taken considerable effort and invested large sums in facilitating increased walking and cycling in cities. Public areas are given back to pedestrians and playing children through building tunnels for considerable parts of the main road network. Oslo is the best Norwegian example of this strategy, and I am convinced that many of you could tell similar stories from your country. But we all know that we have a long way to go to ensure acceptable conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.

I am afraid I have to complicate the already complex challenge of transport, environment and health. A major research project in Oslo several years ago uncovered that there are considerable synergetic effects between different environmental problems. This means that the health impact of for example a given level of noise from car traffic depends on other environmental factors in the neighbourhood, such as supply of parks and total traffic in the whole area.

Norwegian strategy to abate local environmental problems

As already mentioned there is an obvious link between local air pollution, noise, barriers and expanding "grey" transport areas and health, especially for people living in larger cities. Although there is still considerable uncertainty regarding the actual size of the problem, most experts and politicians agree that something should be done. Like most other relatively rich countries Norway has adopted policies in this field both at national and local level.

To combat local environmental problems instruments and measures should to a large extent be tailored to local conditions which vary considerably between different areas. Nevertheless forecasts indicate that already adopted emission standards and cleaner petrol and diesel will contribute considerably to making urban air less harmful to people’s health. In addition to these general instruments applied at national level local traffic and environmental problems require implementation of comprehensive strategies containing measures to affect both transport demand and supply.

To succeed in achieving efficient and sustainable transport in a cost-efficient manner we must do many things at the same time. We must practice more integrated land-use and transport planning to limit transport demand and make public transport and cycling more attractive and accessible. Furthermore we must reduce the growth in car traffic in cities by right prices for congestion, pollution, noise and accidents. To allow citizens to leave their car at home we must improve public transport services considerably. I would like to mention that the Norwegian government recently presented the so called "Oslo-package 2" which is a scheme to finance an investment plan calculated to cost more than 2 billion Euro.

I will end my presentation by giving some examples of Norwegian projects and instruments being considered to mitigate environmental damage caused by transport.

In Norway we have established national targets for local air quality and noise as part of the overall framework for national and local efforts to improve environmental quality in cities. The national targets adopted by the government are somewhat stricter than the recent EU-directive on NO2, particles (PM10), SO2 and lead. At present several ministries are working together to implement this directive through a new legal provision which will replace existing legislation on local air quality (and noise).

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched a project called Cleaner Urban Air. This project includes the establishment of a coherent air pollution monitoring and warning system for the largest cities. Alternative measures to improve air quality, both in the short and long term, will be considered. The project also identifies the need for and initiates work on new regulations that may be required to provide necessary measures and instruments to local authorities. So far Oslo has adopted a scheme with reduced speed limits on days when concentrations of particulates are forecast to exceed a certain level. In order to abate particle pollution in winter Oslo has furthermore implemented a fee on driving with studded tyres.

Road pricing and time-differentiated toll rates are considered to be effective instruments to limit traffic during peak hours, and can thus contribute to improving the use of road capacity while solving local environmental problems. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is preparing a proposal to allow road pricing - primarily as an instrument to avoid congestion.

As my final statement I would like to conclude that problems regarding transport, environment and health are part of a global challenge that to a large extent has to be solved at local level. Without co-ordinated efforts from international organisations, national governments and local authorities we will probably fail.